Oh, Teenage Hopes
by prplemyth
Summary: A story compiled of oneshots about Marauder era relationships or just events in general. Title from song, 1234 by Feist
1. James and Lily

**A/N: This is just a little thing I wrote really quickly to get rid of my writers block for my other story (and for my English essay), so please disregard any spelling errors or grammar issues.**

**Disclaimer: I own none of it, I really don't, why would I lie?**

I walked into the room where my best friend was. "Hey, Prongsie, what's happening?" I threw my bag on the bed.

"Shut up, backstabber." He didn't even look at me.

"Wait, what's going on? What have I missed?" I was officially befuddled.

"God, Sirius be a man for once in your life and take responsibility for what you did!"

"Man? Reponsibility? What are you talking about, James? I didn't do anything! Lily came on to ME! I had nothing to do with it!" I knew my eyes were glaring, the Black temper coming through.

"You didn't do anything? You strut around daily, showing off your perfect body and perfect hair and perfect perfection, making every girl fall for you. Hell, Sirius, she fell for you!" At these last words, my best friend crumpled onto the foot of his bed and put his head in his hands.

"Padfoot, I guess I'll just never be good enough for her, will I?" He looked up at me. I didn't know what to say. One minute he's yelling at me, the next he's asking me this?

"I…I don't know, Prongs."

Minutes passed before anything was said.

"What did she say when she asked you out?" He was staring at the wall, emotionless.

"I…I said no, Prongs. I told her I wouldn't do that to you."

"Alice and Dorcas told Moony you said yes."

And it all made sense.

"Prongs, you know the two of them. Alice and Dorcas, I mean. Gossip and rumors, they thrive on them. I'm not saying they're bad people, just…They gossip. All the time. They're seventeen year old girls, what do you expect?" I went over and sat next to him. "I wouldn't have done that to you."

All of a sudden the door burst open. There was Lily Evans, the girl causing all of this. I rolled my eyes. She stared at James' face, in shock. I followed her gaze, and nearly fell off the bed.

James Potter had been crying. Actually crying. The last time I'd seen him do that was when we lost the Quidditch cup to Slytherin in 5th year.

He was truly, undeniably, honest-to-Merlin crying.

"P-Potter. What's…Wrong?" She stuttered. Lily Evans, stuttering? It's a day of revelations, people.

"I – uh – I – nothing. I have, I have allergies." He sniffed and wiped his eyes and, I suppose to be a little more authentic (since his "allergies" were so awful), his nose.

"Potter!" Prongs sniffed again. Lily's face softened and became the sweet disposition that I think James fell for in the beginning.

"James. I didn't mean to."

Oh, god, mushy moment. I'll…Go stare at a wall.

While listening in, of course.

"To what? Break my heart?"

Prongs is getting mushy. Ugh…

"What? Yeah, I suppose. I – I thought. I thought Sirius was you."

"So?"

Wait for it. James'll get it.

Wait for it.

Wait for it…

Okay, even Prongs isn't THAT stupid.

This shouldn't take him this long.

Okay, maybe he IS that stupid.

"OOOOOOOOOOH! You mean…You mean, you meant to ask me to Hogsmeade?"

Way to go, Sherlock. Watson would be proud…

"So…You meant to ask me out?"

"Yes. I thought Sirius was you, since you both look a little alike when you're asleep on your homework."

Way to go Lily. Insert a backhanded insult.

"And then I just said it without knowing who it was. Now that I look back on it, it wasn't a very good approach."

Wow, Lily, ya think?

James stared at her google-eyed. Actually, I'm not sure if he knows how to look at her any other way.

"So…You like me?"

"Do I have to say it?"

"Yes or otherwise I will think the world is playing a cruel, cruel joke on my fragile soul."

"Yes, James Potter, I like you, even with your melodramatic phrases."

"Why thank you."

"I can't for the life of me figure out where the compliment was."

"It's more a 'thank you for realizing that I have liked you for ages'."

"Ahh. I see."

Awkward silence. I'm still staring at the wall. I probably look like a brain dead zombie.

HAHA. Get it?

Sorry. Bad joke.

Anyway, I decided to break the silence. "So, Lils. Do you realize the blow this has been to my ego? I've been rejected! I'm – " I didn't get to finish my sentence because about 30 pillows were chucked at my head, forcing me to fall off the bed and pushing me into the dorm bathroom, then, ultimately, locking me in the shower. Well, about 20 of the 30 were charmed by Lily, the other 10 were thrown by James, because he's too stupid to charm them.

God I love my friends.

I heard Lily giggle. They obviously don't know I can hear them.

"Well, thanks James for not freaking out about."

Shows how much SHE knows…

"Yeah, I had a feeling it was a misunderstanding. You'd never go for Sirius."

WHAT?! Wow, Prongs. Way to go. Way. To. Go.

"I wouldn't. I'd go for you."

Pardon me. I have to go vomit.

Who would have known LILY to be like that? Or JAMES?!

"Lily?"

"Yes, James?"

"Can…Can I hug you?"

"Well, I mean, you didn't have to ask, I mean, I guess, yeah."

Honestly. Going. To vomit. Too mushy gushy.

I managed to wrench myself out of the shower and out of the bathroom, where I pelted the happy couple with some of the pillows and ran out of there like a bat out of hell. They followed me and James tackled me, but not before I yelled, "JAMES AND LILY ARE GOING TO HOGSMEADE AND THEY'RE ALL MUSHY GUSHY LOVEY DOVEY!!"

Moony and Wormtail rushed over to pull James off of me, but the two of us were laughing too hard to move. I got a bruised knee from crashing into the common room table.

It was so worth it.

* * *

Later that day, I went back into our dorm, where I heard, "Upside Down, Bouncing Off the Ceiling" play. You know, the one by Ateens. I went in the room, wondering if one of the girls was in there.

And James was dancing around like an idiotic nerd, saying, "I'm going out with Lily, I'm going out with Lily!" over and over again.

I pulled out my WizardCam and filmed it all.

This is SO gonna be played for the whole graduating class.


	2. Remus and Tonks

**A/N: Wahoo! New chappie…Finally…Thanks to all the AWESOME reviewers!**

**So, as you can see this is no longer a one shot and I am SO grateful to all who reviewed (aka opungo, ****Literati and naley forever, LILYandJAMESareCUTE, xMessrMoony, SilverDrama and SalemMoon).**

**I apologize for the gargantuan wait, but I kind of got distracted by other things, like other fics and such.**

**Enjoy this new chapter!**

"Mommy, I'm gonna marry him and we're gonna have 16 gazillion babies!"

I stared at the little 3-year-old, my mouth gaping. Sirius, James, Peter and Lily all started laughing at me.

And, of course, I blushed like a girl. "W-what?" I stuttered. This is not how I expected to enter a conversation with Nymphadora and Andromeda Tonks, Sirius' cousins.

"Hello, mister. I think you're cuteeeee!" the little girl had turned and began speaking directly to me.

To make it look like I wasn't as humiliated as I honestly was, I laughed at Sirius' cousin's daughter. "You are a very adorable little girl, but you're much younger than I am, and I don't know if it would work out."

"How many are you?"

"I'm 17 years old, 14 years older than you are." I stooped down to her eye level, crouching so I could see her better.

"But I'm a big girl. I even stopped wearing diapers! See!" She lifted up her dress to reveal pink underwear. I slapped my hands over my eyes, and fell over on my butt as the other four started laughing even harder.

Andromeda picked her little daughter up, horrified.

"Remus, I'm so sorry. She's just not used to older guys that aren't her dad or Sirius, and both of them used to change her diapers, so she might not get that it's, well, inappropriate to do that."

"Lets hope she grows out of it before she's older," I head James whisper to Lily. I also heard something very familiar to me. The sound of a light smack, James saying, "Ow! Okay, sorry." Then Lily responded with "Thank you, darling." And after that, Sirius Peter and I would always fake gagging. This time I had more awkward things on my mind.

"Is it safe to move my hands?" I asked Andromeda timidly.

"Yup."

I took my hands off my eyes to see James and Lily nearly falling over each other on the couch. In a normal case, I'd be making fun of them for looking like such idiots laughing. Since it's about me, I'm not sure if it would work.

"Look what I can do!" yelled Nymphadora. She changed her hair from a light brown to a fluorescent orange. My eyebrows shot up.

"Yup," said Andromeda, "she's a Metamorphmagus. Just started to be able to control her hair last month. It usually only changes with her will, but when she's particularly content it will turn to a soft, light lavender. But we still don't know how long it'll take before her eyes will pick a definite form." We all laughed as the little girl changed her hair back to light brown.

"So, Remus, how have you been?" asked Andromeda. "The last time we met you were about half a foot shorter. And your hair was basically blonde."

I shuddered at the incident.

"Yeah, I remember. Your darling cousin here dyed my hair as I was sleeping. Stupid git wouldn't take the spell off." I knew I'd said the wrong thing as little Nymphadora slammed her hands over her mother's ears and started yelling. I managed to make out a few things.

"BAD WORDS ARE WRONG, BAD WORDS ARE MEAN, IF YOU HEAR THEM TOO MUCH, YOUR EARS WILL TURN GREEN!" and "YOU SAID THE S WORD YOU BAD BAD BOY YOU!" After everyone was staring in shock, Nymphadora took this as her chance. She hopped out of her mother's arms and tackled me. For a 3 year old, she was pretty damn strong. I flew over onto the ground, and she started poking me.

"You said a bad word you said a bad word!" She said this over and over, while she was poking me.

Now, I'm very ticklish, so the fact that she's poking me in the sides is not good.

"N-Nymphadora. Stop poking me. It t-tickles!"

"HAHA Tickle bear is gonna get you!!" And then she started tickling me. And she wouldn't stop.

"NYMPHAD-DORA! ST-STOP! NO NO NO! AHHHH!" I started shrieking. Not like "haha, I'm gonna joke around" shrieks. No, these were girly shrieks.

"Aww, is Moony getting seriously owned by my cousin? Yikes," said Sirius. It was very obvious that he was taking the mickey out of me.

"Sirius be quiet!" I said through girly giggles. Man, I hate this. My voice goes all high pitched when I'm laughing. I'm a flipping werewolf - were, meaning MAN! - and I sound like a girl. That is one thing I really dislike about my voice.

I managed to pick the little girl up by the back of her dress and hold her up so she could get me anymore. I swung her around, holding onto her waist so she wouldn't fall, and said, "Look, Nymphadora! You're flying!"

She began to giggle, and I sighed in relief. No more tickling. She was distracted. And my voice was back to normal.

Thank god…

I put her down and she looked up at me, almost sadly. "Up!" she said, reaching her arms up. "Um, okay?" I picked her up and swung her around again, wondering how she could feel so safe with me, even though the last time I'd seen her she'd been 6 months old, barely able to crawl.

Andromeda smiled at me. "You know, you're a natural with her. Are you usually good with kids?"

I laughed. "Me? Good with kids? Never. If it was a choice of going out and leaving their kid with me or staying in, the neighbors on my block would always choose to stay in."

I exchanged a glace with the Marauders. They knew the real reason. I never trusted myself around children, just in case something bad happened, like it was a full moon and I didn't realize.

"Well, she seems to really like you. We'll call you if Sirius isn't able to babysit."

Peter, James, Lily and I whirled around to our friend. "So THAT'S where you are those Saturday nights when you're single!" I exclaimed. "You always said you were going to the Three Broomsticks for a drink and a quickie!"

The entire room roared with laughter.

"You mean, he never told you that's where he's been? That's hilarious! Big macho cousin Sirius didn't wanna tell his friends he'd been babysitting! Isn't that silly, Dora?" Andromeda asked her daughter, who I'd just noticed I was holding in my arms, no longer doing the airplane thing. She'd snuggled into my shoulder, and seemed to be comfortable.

"Mummy, I tired," she said sleepily. How she could be tired after all the laughing, he had no idea.

"Okay, sweetheart, I'll take you to bed. Say nuh-night to cousin Sirius and his friends." Andromeda went to take her away from me, but the little girl just clung tighter.

"Mummy, I want Remy to take me to bed." I looked down at her.

"Nymphadora, you silly, you have to go to bed."

"I know. Put me nuh-nights, Remy." I looked at Andromeda.

"It's alright with me. She really seems to be comfortable with you."

"Okay, I'll put you to bed, but your Mummy has to put you in jimjams." I handed the little girl to Andromeda.

"Okay, Remy." Andromeda took her into the bathroom to change her into her night clothes.

"Blimey, Moony, she's really taken to you!" said James.

"I know. It's weird. Kids never like me."

"Don't worry about it, Dora just likes everybody, she's weird that way." I glared at Sirius. "That's, Padfoot." I said as I rolled my eyes.

"Whoops. That came out wrong, sorry."

Andromeda brought Dora back out, in a unicorn sleeping shirt.

"Okay, sweetie, Remy will take you to bed now." I sighed. That nickname will never be shaken, and there is no way I'll ever live it down.

I brought the little girl into a room that was pink, purple and blue.

I set Nymphadora down on her bed. "Goodnight, Dora. Sleep tight!"

"Sing me a lullaby, Remy." I smiled.

"Okay, how about I sing you a song my mum sang to me when I was about your age?"

"Okay, Remy."

I took a deep breath and began to sing, just loud enough that Dora could hear but quiet enough that the others couldn't hear.

"The lights are out around the town,

The sun has laid his bright head down,

So he can sleep throughout the night,

And wake up to the morning light,

Mum and Daddy are off to sleep,

Once you're in a dream so deep,

I'll see you when morning arrives,

So sleep, my darling, close you eyes."

I looked down at little Dora. She was already asleep. I went to close the door, but just before I shut it, I took one last look at her. Her hair was a soft, light lavender.

**A/N2: You do not understand how difficult it was to end that perfectly. Took me half the time to write the story, the other half I was trying to formulate the perfect ending. I hope I succeeded!**

**Thanks for reading, and a review would be lovely!**

**Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Late Hanukkah, Happy Boxing Day, Happy Winter Solstice. In general, Happy Holidays!!**

**And if you're wondering, yes I made up that lullaby. Why? No, not for any creative reason. I just couldn't remember the lyrics of any real lullaby and noticed just about when I was done making that one up that I could have searched the lyrics. Oh well, silly me.**

**Again, thanks for reading!.**


	3. Remus and Marlene

**A/N: Hello again! This chapter ties in with the previous chapter about Lupin and Tonks. Well, sort of. Not really, but that's okay. This just occurs a little bit afterward, so we know Lupsters knows little Dora.**

**Also, this one is significantly less light hearted than the other two. It's kind of sad, really, but I kind of like it. **

**I hope you guys like it, even though it's about 20 months after the last chapter. Sorry about that, by the way.**

**Note: I do not own Harry Potter. Believe me, if I did, I would be jumping up and down a lot. Nor do I own Star Trek. Although that would be fun as well. God I'm such a geek…**

She stared at me, horror-struck.

"You're kidding me. He's lying, right? You're not…You're playing a prank on me, aren't you?"

I bowed my head, letting the pain of the situation wash over me.

"No, Marlene. I'm not. I'm a werewolf."

**4.5 HOURS EARLIER - 6pm**

"Remus!" giggled Marlene McKinnon, my lovely girlfriend. "Remus, that tickles!"

"It's supposed to, I'm tickling you." I wrapped my arms around her waist, pulling her close. I kissed her lightly. "You know, Sirius is having a party upstairs in the 7th year boys' dormitory at 9. Shall we go?"

"Is Sirius gonna try and feel me up again?"

"No, I don't think so. Last time the two of us weren't officially dating. If he tries to this time, I will hex him into the year 1830. Besides, that was about 4 months ago. I'm sure he understands you're out of bounds now."

She laughed. I love it when she laughs.

"Okay. But only because it's Saturday and we finished all our homework."

"That's what you get for having a nerdy boyfriend."

"Not nerdy. Intelligent, which is more than Sirius can say."

"Sirius has a nerdy boyfriend?" I joked.

"Oh shut up," said Marlene, her beautiful teal eyes staring into mine. "Remus, can you teach me how to dance again?"

I smiled down at her and secured my hand around her waist as an answer.

I took her hand and charmed the music box to start playing a waltz. My mother had taught me how to dance when I was young, frightened that my furry little problem would inhibit any sense of grace. She was wrong, one of the only times she was.

Marlene and I floated across the floor, her feet on top of mine. She sighed and put her head on my shoulder, cuddling into me.

_This is nice, _I thought, kissing her on the forehead, _to think that I, a werewolf, could have the same kind of relationship as James and Lily. God, if I ever lost her…_

"Remus?"

"Yes, Marlene?"

"I…I kind of need to tell you something." She lifted her head off my shoulder, avoiding my eyes.

"Yes, Mari?"

She took a deep breath, and looked at me. "Remus, I…I dated a girl in secret last year."

I blinked. "What?"

"She was a muggle, a family friend we've known since I was 10."

I blinked again.

"Please, Remus," she pleaded, staring at me with sad eyes, "Please, don't think differently of me for it, I just want there to be no secrets between us. It doesn't mean anything now. I don't have feelings for any girls right now."

I blinked a third time.

"Please, Remus, say something."

"I don't care about it, Marlene."

She stared at me. "What?"

"That's nothing. As long as you care about me right now, I don't care who you cared about in the past." I smiled down at her.

Marlene started sobbing into my shoulder. Not expecting this reaction at all, I awkwardly patted her on the back, trying to placate her.

"I'm sorry," she said, rubbing her eyes, "It's just that no one, not even my parents, were that supportive when I told them. I thought you'd break up with me. Thank you, Remus. I don't know what I've done to deserve you."

I smoothed her hair and wrapped her in what I hope she found to be a loving hug. "Marlene, I've never said this to any girl before, but I love you. I promise, I'll never think differently about you for this."

"Thank you, Remus."

We stood there for a minute. I held her, breathing in the smooth floral scent of her hair, feeling the soft curls brush against my cheek. She was so much smaller than me.

And then it hit me. I had to tell her. She'd said she couldn't keep secrets from me, and I think it's time for me to tell my secret to her.

"Mari, I need to tell you something. I'm -"

"MARLENE I - Oh, my, it seems I've interrupted something!" said Alice, smiling devilishly. "Is there something I should know about, Marlene, my dear?"

Marlene pushed her head off my shoulder, not so subtly brushing the tears off on my sweater, leaving quite the conspicuous wet mark on my shoulder.

"Did you guys break up or something?"

Marlene laughed. "Oh, no, Ali, Remus told the most hilarious joke. I started bawling I was laughing so hard!"

That was an impressive cover.

I gave Marlene a hug. "Yeah. She almost fell over on the couch she was laughing so hard."

Alice smiled. "So what was the joke?"

I noticed then the hole in our plan. Apparently, so did Marlene. "Sorry?"

"What was so funny?"

Thinking fast, I fibbed, "Oh, it has to do with this American celebrity. William Shatner.

"Who?"

"Muggle actor," said Marlene.

Alice sighed. "Oh. I don't know who it is."

"Darn, you probably wouldn't get it. It had to do with his character on Star Trek."

Alice screwed up her face in a faux frown. "I hate being pureblood! I never know about anything!" and with that, she threw up her hands and stomped into the 7th year girls' dorm.

"That was an incredible cover, Mari."

She laughed. "And you, continuing it?" She gave me a little kiss on the cheek. "I'm impressed." She kissed me on the lips again, and pulled away with her arms still around her neck. "Okay," she said, patting me on my chest, "I need to go upstairs and do Alice's hair for the party. She can't for the life of her straighten it herself." Another kiss on the nose, and she bounced off again. As I watched her walk away, she blew me a kiss from the stairs. I blew her one as well, and slammed into a table as I tried to walk away while still looking at her.

"Nice one, Remus," and with that, she went into the 7th year girls' dorms.

**1.5 HOURS EARLIER - 9PM**

She stood at the door after Alice opened it, looking like a goddess. She was dressed in a teal and purple dress; the teal was the same as her eyes. Her curly blonde hair was wrapped into a half ponytail, the rest cascading down the back, almost hiding the spaghetti straps that were covered in some weird kind of rhinestone that must have been magically altered to sparkle like that.

It too until she stood right in front of me before I could speak.

"Wha-what's wrong, Remus? Is there something wrong with me?" she asked quickly patting down her hair.

"No," I said, "You are just so beautiful."

**½ AN HOUR EARLIER- 10PM**

The party continued as parties do, with Sirius making out with some 5th year in the corner, James and Lily dancing like buffoons next to the music, Peter trying to get up the nerve to chat up some 6th year, and Marlene and I doing an out-of-place waltz, lost in our own little world. It was ten now, when Sirius almost always -

"TRUTH OR DARE TIME!"

Sometimes I wonder if it's dangerous for him to be so predictable.

Everyone at the party gathered in a circle, the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th years. We had enough decency to limit the age, because of the danger of something getting out of hand with someone really young. We always set the limit at 4th year. Mainly because that was the year all four of us went to the shrieking shack the first time, and we decided that age was old enough for a lot of stuff.

"Okay, James, truth or dare?"

"Truth."

Sirius groaned. "Ugh, you're no fun. Okay. What did you do when you first discovered Lily liked you?"

James looked horrified. "Oh, c-come on, Sirius, you already know what happened!"

"Yeah," said Sirius with his signature smirk, "But they don't."

James sighed and mouthed, "Sorry about this," to Lily, and said, "I went into my room and…well…Started to dance to 'Upside Down' by the A*Teens and yelled 'I'm going out with Lily' a lot…"

The room went silent.

Then Sirius, Peter and I burst into laughter. The whole room then followed suit.

Truth or Dare continued for half an hour, without Marlene or I getting Truth'd or Dared.

"WHAT ARE ALL OF YOU STILL DOING UP?!" shouted McGonagall, running into our dorm room. "All of you, off to bed!"

"What if we're of age?" asked Lily with a smirk.

"Well, I, um, FINE. Anyone who isn't in 7th year leave, please, or, I hate to say this, but you'll earn yourself a detention."

The room was nearly empty before you could say "Snargaluff Pods."

The only people left were Sirius, Peter, James, Lily, Marlene and I. Alice and Dorcas decided to return to their dorms, due to the amount of Firewhiskey Sirius had obtained, yet I doubted the two of them together equaled even half what he'd drunk.

"So," said Peter when all settled down again, "Remus. Truth or dare?"

"Truth," I said, knowing I'd get a lot of grief for it.

"YOU ARE SO DULL, WEMOOSE!" said Sirius.

"Sirius, why are you talking like that?"

"I feel like it."

"Um."

"Anyway," said Peter, "Remus, what's you're biggest secret?"

"Well, all of us know that one!" said Sirius, not noticing my horrified face, "He's were -"

"SIRIUS!"

"Wolf!"

The room went silent, and Sirius just then noticed Lily and Marlene's horrified faces. Marlene was staring at me like I'd just threatened to kill her, edging away from me involuntarily.

"Sirius, what have you done?" James said.

"Wait, wait, wait," said Lily, "WHAT did you say?"

"He's lying, right?" asked Marlene. My distraught face must have given it away.

She stared at me, horror-struck.

"You're kidding me. He's lying, right? You're not…You're playing a prank on me, aren't you?"

I bowed my head, letting the pain of the situation wash over me.

"No, Marlene. I'm not. I'm a werewolf."

Marlene jumped up. "I told you, no secrets! How could you have kept this from me? How?" she was pacing now, shrieking her words.

"Mari, please," I said, trying not to show my anguish, "I tried to, but then Alice walked in! I tried to today!"

"What," she said, "What am I supposed to do Remus? You're a monster? I can't feel safe around you! How can you possibly expect me to have been okay with this?"

"Marlene," I said, pleading with her, trying to both avoid crying and convince her at the same time, "It's nothing new. I've been this way for years," her face only got more terrified at this, "No, no, what I mean is I'm only dangerous once a month. I go to the Shrieking Shack during the full moon."

"OH!" she shouted, "So that's where you go? I suppose your mother's never been ill, has she? You lied about that too?"

"Marlene," said Lily softly, "This isn't his fault. Just hear him out. Since I've known him he's never intimidated me. Or scared me."

"He's perfectly safe, Marlene. He won't hurt you," said James.

"I…I can't deal with this right now," said Marlene, going towards the door, "I have to go. Bye, everyone," she opened the door, "N-n-nice party, I guess."

And with that the door slammed.

James stared at Sirius. "Jesus Christ, Sirius, and I always thought this was one secret you could keep."

"It's not my fault he didn't tell her yet! It's been four months, I thought he'd have said something by now!"

"Oh!" said James, "So now you're blaming your incompetency on someone else? And what about Lily, huh? You expected her to just know, too?"

"GUYS!" yelled Lily. "Quit yelling!" She came over to me and put her arm around my shaking shoulders. "Remus, it's okay, she'll be fine, she'll get over it." She hugged me, but she was the wrong girl. Her straight red hair was wrong. The coconut smell of her shampoo was wrong. She was wrong.

All of a sudden, an owl came in the window with a message for Sirius.

_Hi, Sirius,_

_Ted and I were invited to go to a party. Could you come babysit Dora for the night?_

_Love ya!_

_Cousin Andie_

I took this as an opportunity to get out of there. "Sirius, you're completely hammered beyond self control," I said, relishing the look on his face when he noticed the second meaning, "and I haven't had anything to drink, I'll go." I stood up and sent an owl back to Andromeda. Scrawled on the paper was,

_Hi Andromeda,_

_Sirius has a bit of a cold but I'd love to help out. Just floo us with your answer._

_Remus_

Silence overtook the room. Lily's hand was on my shoulder trying to comfort me, but it didn't help since I could see her hand in James'. It only reminded me of what had happened minutes before.

"Hi, Guys! Ooh, Sirius, you're white as a sheet. Ugh, and you're sweating. Go back to bed, kiddo, you look awful," Andromeda turned to me. "Hi Remus! I'd love to have you come take care of Dora. She's been asking for you for a while, and maybe she'll finally go to sleep if you're here. Wanna come over now?"

"I'd love to Andromeda," I grabbed my backpack, "I'll be over after I talk to McGonagall."

McGonagall had said it was okay, and I floo'd over to Andromeda's house after saying goodbye to James and Peter. Sirius had gone up to bed, and Lily'd gone to her dorm room to try and help Marlene.

"Hi, Andromeda," I said as I crawled out of the fireplace. "Where's -"

"REMY!" shouted a little pink blur, "HELLOOOOOO!" I was tackled from the side by tiny Dora, who gave me a huge hug around the middle. It lightened my mood immediately.

"Hiya, Dora!"

Andromeda and Ted laughed. "We'll be back very late. We didn't intend for her to be up this late, but she woke up when the phone rang an hour ago. Just get her to bed as soon as you can, okay?"

"Sure thing, Andromeda."

She gave her little daughter a kiss on the forehead, as did Dora's dad. "Night-night, Dora, see you when you wake up!"

The second the door closed, Dora started yanking on my pant leg. "CAN WE PLAY DOLLS?!"

"Dora, it's time for you to go to bed."

She put on an adorable little frown. "Pleaseeeeeee?"

I sighed. "Dora it's almost 11 at night. I don't think Mommy will be too pleased if you're up that late."

"Oky doky."

I picked her up and she fell asleep immediately on my shoulder. I tried not to think about the last person whose head was there, but the contentment on that little girl's face and the softness of her lavender hair made me unable to remember that anything bad had happened.

As I set her down in her racecar bed, she stirred awake. "Remy?"

"Yes Dora?"

"Will you sing me that lullaby again?"

"Sure Dora," I said, tucking her in and handing her the little puppy dog she'd reached for. It was grey and chocolate brown, and oddly enough looked a little like what I looked like when I transformed.

I began the lullaby, but she was asleep again by the second line. I smoothed her lavender hair and smiled at her angelic face.

If she was alive, at least I'd always know there was good in this crazy world.

**A/N2: Wow, that's a long chapter. 90 percent of it done today hanging out at home with my mom. Yay for no social life haha. Hope you guys enjoy it! I know I liked writing it!**

**Thanks to brooke-ella, SilverDrama, Hannahble, Moony, the bean, StarsInTheSky123 and Phoenicity for reviewing, it means SO much to me. **


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